Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #19 – Selling a Classic, More Surgery, New Phones, and Yard Work

 

Sunday, May 17^th., 2026……  After we got up and showered, Cat walked and fed the girls while I headed off to get us breakfast and coffees. After that, we got the Bolens out of the garage and Cat worked on wiping it down. This was a labor of love and I left her alone. She and Jim worked on this 1957 classic mini tractor years ago, restoring it to better than new. It means a lot to her. But it’s been sitting in the garage, getting dusty and Mike said he will be using it on his place and at the Blueberry farm, maybe pulling kids around. So, that makes Cat happy that it’s going to a good home!  Later, we loaded it in the back of my truck to take over to them sometime this week. I spent the rest of the day working on my blog, watching my taped Preakness, and Nascar races, plus the recent Mecum auction in Indianapolis. Later, we headed over to class. It was the next to last class for this group. We only had 5-6 that stayed through and will graduate next week. But I think they will all join our growing Club!  Pizza afterwards then home to watch some tv and then we hit the spa before bed.  

Monday, May 18^th., 2026…… We were up and going slowly this morning. We got the dogs walked and fed then went to breakfast, skipping the gym this morning. Bad on us!  We stopped at Walmart and also BiMart to pick up some flowers and soil amendments. We also stopped at Wilco for dog food for Rylee. Later, we took the Bolens over to Mike and Cheryl's

Earlier, she told Cat that Mike wants to put it on their back porch by the bedroom so he can look at it!  She said he probably want rather have it inside their bedroom.  SO - that's what we did when we unloaded it. He was out in the field and didn't see anything. We pushed it inside and closed the doors. He was sure shocked to see it inside his bedroom.... 

We both worked around the house and yard today. The plan is to mow later in the week if we can dodge the rain. Later, we ate dinner. After that, I wasn’t allowed any more food until after my procedure tomorrow morning. I had already received my call to report to the hospital at 7:30am tomorrow. As directed, I have stopped my meds for this surgery. More on this tomorrow.  

Tuesday, May 19^th., 2026…… I was up and going early this morning. I had to shower using the antibiotic soap plus do an enema for today’s procedure. We left and got checked in and I was prepped and ready to go. They took me in around 9:20 and I was back in my room at 10:00. Today’s surgery was to implant markers to line up on when they start the upcoming radiation treatments. They also put in a blocker to protect the other areas when they do this. It was invasive but I was still given an anesthesia, similar to a colonoscopy. Once I woke up and had a few minutes to recover and have a drink and a muffin, I was good to go. Remember, after the last procedure, I had complications with tons of bleeding. Of course they went in another path. This one was rectal. So far, no bleeding or uncomfortableness. We’ll see as the day goes by. Cat drove us back home and I was told to rest for the day. But I did feel good enough to get a Facebook marketplace conversation going with a guy up in Damascus (southeast of Portland). I set up a time tomorrow to go look at his side by side. I also found out this morning that my phone no longer supports my banking app, so I now know it’s time to upgrade!  I have been looking and know what I want. Cat needs to think about it too because she has the same app issue as well.     

Wednesday, May 20^th., 2026……  I am feeling really good. No issues and no realization that I even had anything done! They checked up on me later in the day but I was able to tell them I was good. So, after getting dressed, I headed out to make my 10:00am meeting with Sam to see his side by sides. I stopped for coffee and breakfast sandwiches and drove up. It was about 90 miles and I found his place with no issues. He is a reseller of 3 2019 Kawasaki Mules. They came to him from a farm where they were primarily used to shuttle workers to the fields. Other than color, each of these are pretty much identical. They have a second seat, which can fold up to increase the bed size. They are also enclosed, which I like, but I would probably remove the doors for ease of operation here. He has sold one so I had a choice of the others. I did drive both of them and other than hours on them, they are virtually identical in condition and equipment. Of course, I had to tell him I wouldn’t be able to buy today and he understood. I will get back to him after I get funds together. 

While I was out, Cat was staying home because the housekeeper and the gardener were both coming. Since I had time, on the way home, I stopped at the Verizon store in Albany (this store is a hub) to buy at least my new cell phone. The guy helped me and I was good to go. But I wanted to also get Cathye’s phone if I could. We ended up getting her to come over (thanks to Penny for the ride!) and she picked out her phone. They transferred all the data in store for both phones and we were good to go! I had chosen the Samsung S26 Ultra because I wanted the stylus for my notes. Cat didn’t concern herself with that and chose the Galaxy Pixel. When we got back home, I spent the rest of the day playing with my phone, getting things transitioned over. Most all of my apps had passwords involved so it took some time to open and re-establish everything to get going again. I am pretty patient but it was a long process! Cathye was not in the mood and said later that she really didn’t like the operating system the Pixel has. She would spend the next day working through all the nuances and we’ll see how that goes. Later, we fed the girls and then headed to our Club meeting. We did get a rousing thank you from the group after our turn came up to report out on our recent yard sale. The treasurer said we have never had any one-time income that was in comparison to what we brought in! I guess we are now going to be doing this annually at our place! Later, we relaxed at home and watched tv and then went to bed.     

Thursday, May 21^st., 2026…… Today would be a busy one! And yet we managed to sleep in again today!  First thing up was breakfast at Kristi’s. We had to hurry because we needed to be at Dianna’s for our haircuts at 10:00am. We made that and we were good to go. When we got back home, we rested for a few minutes before taking the girls in for their grooming appointment. No worries, we were on schedule so far!  Later, after picking them up, I was able to get ready for my Oncology telecon. I met with Christina, who explained next steps in my prostate treatment process. My first visit they will do a test to make sure the markers and spaceor they just put in are in the right place and will work when they start the radiation. I have a list now of what to do prior to that Jun 3^rd. office visit.  

Friday, May 22^nd., 2026…… Today we only had Cathye’s luncheon. Last night I couldn’t sleep thinking about Cat’s issues with her new phone. I was determined to make this work for her, so this morning I took her phone (and gave her mine) and went off to Verizon again. They were so nice and allowed me to return her old phone. We changed it out for a Samsung 26+, which is pretty close to mine without the stylus. They transferred the data and I was on my way. When we got together at home later, I made sure it was the one she wanted (yes, it was perfect!) so I ordered her the cell phone case that she had picked out. All was good.

Saturday, May 23^rd., 2026…… Nothing on the agenda today. We were up and going and walked and fed the dogs and ate breakfast. Cat went out to work in the yard. We are still having issues with the gardener, who, this last time, just sent his worker, who didn't speak English and really didn’t understand what he was supposed to do. I’m not sure how long we will be sticking with him. Today, Cat worked on some special areas, spraying weed killer.  I also had to work on the sprinkler heads, some of which were broken from last year. We went shopping later and I got two new heads for the lawn sprinklers. I got them installed and will try them out later to make sure they are adjusted correctly. I also needed to take the battery out of the Spyder. I had tried starting it the other day and, when that failed, I had to put it on the charger. I did that yesterday and checked it this morning. Nothing. It was pretty easy to disconnect and get out. Napa didn’t have one but they would order it delivered from the Albany store and would call me when it comes in later today. I went and picked it up later and Cat held the light so I could see to get it put back in. That went easily as well and it started right up!  I think we were about done for the day so we decided to take the bike out for a drive. We went to the Fish Shack and had a nice picnic bench meal. If you look closely, you can see we managed to get our selfie with the bike in the background…

After we got back and got the bike put away, we settled in for the rest of the evening. I texted Randy to see if he was affected by the toxic tank situation in Garden Grove. They had an evacuation order in place and Randy texted back that he was one street away from the zone. They are good for now!